Category: Update (Page 38 of 41)

War of the Worlds Latin Revelations

March 24, 2005 / Steve Peters

A few weeks back, we reported on some mysterious posters and graffiti that was showing up around the country, all depicting the latin phrase, “Omnium Finis Imminet.” Word was that these could be the beginnings of a marketing campaign for the upcoming Spielberg adaptation of War of the Worlds, and this even seemed to be confirmed in a New York Times Article. This news caused many in the ARG community to clench various body parts in collective anticipation of another Spielberg-related Alternate Reality Game.

Paramount discounted these reports, however, and it was finally disclosed that these ads were for an upcoming NBC-TV series, Revelations. In addition, the New York Times subsequently published the following retraction:

“An article on Saturday about unusual subway advertisements included an erroneous identification from transit officials for the production whose ad featured a flock of birds with the phrase “Omnium Finis Imminet,” Latin for “The End of All Things Is Near.” It is an NBC television series called “Revelations,” not Steven Spielberg’s film version of “War of the Worlds.”

Well, it just goes to show you that you can’t always believe everything those pesky NYC Transit Officials tell you after all, let alone the New York Times! Alternate Reality Game? Nope. Stealth campaign gone terribly wrong? Absolutely!

Persistence

March 14, 2005 / Steve Peters

Last week, we reported on a greeting card we received here at ARGN. While we couldn’t make heads nor tails from the card, the intrepid folks at unfiction discovered a trail of similar greeting cards that looks like it does indeed lead to what looks like an Alternate Reality Game.

Players have found two websites so far: vagabondsojourn.net and astrostole.com, which in turn leads to a forum entitled Persistence. The story so far seems to involve eight characters who are on the run from someone/something. The story has involved some good puzzles, and the posts on the board are reminiscent of previous bands of hackers that have shown up in various games past.

While very intriguing so far, it’s still tough to say exactly what this is, or how deep it will go. Time will tell. YMMV.

Discussion at Unfiction.

Ring 2 Web Weirdness

January 29, 2005 / Steve Peters

Well, you had to know it was going to happen. After all of the cool online stuff that went on a few years back with the release of The Ring, there was bound to be something new and macabre in store for us this time around with the upcoming release of The Ring 2, which is scheduled to open in the U.S. on March 18th.

If you thought things were twisted last time around, just wait. We won’t spoil any of the creepy fun for you, but if The Ring gave you nightmares, you may want to avoid she-is-here.com and the-tape.com. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

ARG? Potentially.

Disturbing? Definitely.

Discussion at unfiction
Discussion at she-is-here
The Ring 2 Official Site

Sharp’s Urns ARG Announces Winner

January 22, 2005 / Steve Peters

Sharp’s promotional ARG, Legend of the Sacred Urns, announced a winner tonight in their alternate reality treasure hunt. As posted on the Steinitz Puzzlers Forum, the Contest Grand Prize Winner was Ohio’s Ken Floss. Ken was the first to submit a correct answer identifying the location of the third sacred urn back on Dec. 1st. There were also six sweepstakes winners drawn at random from those who submitted entries.

Beginning back on September 15th, a series of Sharp TV ads featuring an orange Karmann Ghia crashing into a swimming pool directed observant viewers to moretosee.com, which led to the Steinitz Puzzlers site. There, players learned about fictional eccentric treasure hunter Dagobert Steinitz and the three urns he’d hidden for other adventurers to find. The game led to various blogs and websites where players were able to find clues pointing them to the final urn’s location.

For being the first to submit the correct location, Ken will receive a Sharp Home Entertainment System, consisting of a Sharp 45-inch Aquos LCD TV, a Sharp digital video player and Surround Sound amplification system.

Urns was produced by Mike Monello (the producer of â€œThe Blair Witch Projectâ€) and Brian Clark of GMD Studios in Orlando.

Neurocam

January 18, 2005 / Steve Peters

After almost a month of digging around by ARGN staffers and players alike, the mystery of what exactly is going on at neurocam.com is no closer to being revealed than it was a month ago.

Despite replies to curious players in various countries besides Australia, our best guess is that Neurocam is some sort of art student project. Plus, to confirm our suspicions about what Neurocam is not, their site was recently updated with the following:

“…
neurocam is not a psychology experiment
neurocam is not a terrorist training organisation
neurocam is not a corporate team-building exercise
neurocam is not a security company
neurocam is not a joke
neurocam is not an ARG…”

So, there you have it.

Sable & Shuck: Realworld Reward in Store?

November 15, 2004 / Steve Peters

We wrote earlier about a website called Sable & Shuck, which seems to be part of some sort of viral, immersive, ARG-ish promotion for Stella Artois. A series of sites revealed a story straight out of an old Twilight Zone episode, involving deals with the devil and an obsessed hero named Jon Harker trying to get to the bottom of it all.

Recently, the discovery of an additional website called Help Me Find Jon (www.helpmefindjon.com) has upped the ante, both literally and figuratively. It seems Harker has disappeared in the midst of his investigation of the strange goings on involving a mysterious man in black, and his sister Brigid is asking for help in finding him. Notably, she’s offering a reward of Â£10,946 for his whereabouts. You can register and submit your answer, so it looks like if you solve the mystery, you win the reward. Is it real? Well, as Brigid says, “You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.”

Unforum Discussion